Kirk’s Castile soap - our Walmart carried it, and it’s cheap. I use the cheapest olive oil (store brand) that our local grocery store carries. I like it much better than the expensive Passier Lederbalsam or Hydrophane oil I bought before. I also prefer the smell of olive oil over neatsfoot, but that’s just a personal thing.
interesting that some say not to oil the top side of flaps and seat. I’ve always oiled everything I can get to (and that’s what David Stackhouse told me to do on my new saddle, so it’s not just me). Just don’t wear your good show breeches for a couple of rides, rub with glycerine afterward, and you shouldn’t have staining.
Warning though! Do not oil and glycerine the day before a lesson outside in the rain unless you want to practice holding onto the mane for dear life. haha.
I use Higher Standards saddle soap and it’s fantastic. I haven’t tried the leather balm but I bet other Cother’s have and can tell you how it worked on their tack.
All I’ve used for years is castille and olive oil. I’ve brought several pieces of tack (saddles and bridles) back from the brink of dry death with them. I buy cheap olive oil and rub in light coats with my hands, repeating as needed. My hands love it, too.
Go easy with the glycerine and beware of products containing waxes (rarely listed as ingredients). Most of the time a damp sponge is all you need or it gets like waxing a dirty floor.
While these things can create a barrier to keep moisture/oils in, it works both ways and seals it out. Sometines products used in tanning also create a waxy shield that blocks absorption. That’s the stuff, called bloom, that rises to the surface and looks like white powder or mildew, it’s not, it’s wax working its way out. There’s more still inside the grain.
A good cleaning with plain water and Castile soap followed by repeated LIGHT coats over several days or weeks with whatever oil with no additives you want to use works best. Leather absorbs better when warm (NOT HOT) and warming the oil also helps.
A couple of paintbrushes, one 2-3" wide and one an inch wide, make even coats on both large, flat areas like the flaps and the nooks and crannies on the underside easier as well as allow you to control the amount of oil going on instead of glopping it on. If you do it right, there won’t be much ending up on your breeches.
Murphys changed the product ingredients after being bought out some years back, no longer a good choice.
Y’all are oiling layered leather saddles?? That will make calfskin delaminate, stretch, bubble, etc. Okay to oil very sparingly a few times, maybe. But Oakwood conditioner is what L&R, Freedman, and Ideal/Shively say to use on grippy layered leather saddle seat saddles. Is there a reason that hunters don’t use that product?
Seats get creamy conditioner, no oil. Because today’s saddles are foam or double foam underneath the leather. Oli breaks down foam prematurely.
[QUOTE=TC3200;8403388]
Y’all are oiling layered leather saddles?? That will make calfskin delaminate, stretch, bubble, etc. Okay to oil very sparingly a few times, maybe. But Oakwood conditioner is what L&R, Freedman, and Ideal/Shively say to use on grippy layered leather saddle seat saddles. Is there a reason that hunters don’t use that product?
Seats get creamy conditioner, no oil. Because today’s saddles are foam or double foam underneath the leather. Oli breaks down foam prematurely.[/QUOTE]
Oil only breaks down foam if you soak it through the leather. With very thin light coats, you can literally see the leather drink the oil and absorb it without it soaking through to the foam. Also I know that Antares gave me oil with my new saddle and recommended I oil the whole thing at first until it darkens enough.
